Tabloid Science Infiltrates House Climate Hearing

False claims popularized by the media in recent weeks were used as fodder in a Republican hearing to cast doubt on global warming.

The House Energy and Power Subcommittee interrogated cabinet officials Gina McCarthy and Ernest Moniz on Wednesday in a hearing that Organizing for Action dubbed[1] "DenierPalooza." Committee members have accepted over $12 million[2] from the fossil fuel industry in 2013 alone, and a majority are known to deny[3] the science demonstrating manmade global warming. During the hearing, several false claims[4] about climate change that originated in the media were repeated as fact.

An egregious claim[5] advanced by British tabloid[6]The Mail On Sunday was recited[7] by Congressman David McKinley (R-WV) in an effort to claim that global warming isn't happening, asserting "Arctic ice has actually grown 60 percent." Congressman Ed Whitfield (R-KY) also cited[8] the Mail, stating "I recently read an article that stated that the Arctic ice had nearly a million more square miles of ocean covered with ice than at this time of year."

However, these claims were based on a typographic error[9] from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), later corrected. The NSIDC found the Arctic sea ice increase was actually half of what the Mail reported: about 500,000 square miles of ice were added to the Arctic from the previous year (not one million), an increase of 29 percent.

Regardless of this error, it is misleading to use these figures to argue that we are experiencing "global cooling[5]" (as did the Mail On Sunday), as 2012 was a record low for Arctic ice, and some increase in ice extent was expected[10]. Even with the increase, the August 2013 average sea ice extent was about 70 percent less[9] than the 30-year average -- the Arctic is still experiencing rapid sea ice decline in the long-term, mostly due[11] to global warming. Bob Ward of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment concluded[9] that the article was "deliberately misleading."

As misinformation from British tabloids about climate change has been magnified[6] by American conservative media in the past several weeks[12], it was only a matter of time before inaccuracies permeated Congress and entered the political debate.